by Mahmoud Fouda
Foreign Investments are one of the key economic elements on which countries rely on when solving their economic problems. Egypt currently faces problems and large challenges whose negative and positive effects fluctuated through crises in foreign investments before and after the revolution.
Foreign investments are considered the main branches that contribute a great deal to solving economic problems, but need an attractive, guaranteed and encouraging environment in light of other competitors in the region. Therefore, bureaucracy and red tape have been eliminated, the current legislations amended and necessary energy for projects provided along with political and social stability, which is considered most attracting to investments.
Therefore, Egypt has become a regional and international hub of giant projects which are being revealed daily, creating resonance worldwide. These ventures are an economic opportunity for diversifying sources of income.
It is only natural that Egypt has become an enormous attracting force of many giant international projects following the amendments of laws on the ground. The economic repercussion of these projects is undoubtedly large economically and developmentally. Such projects can provide good job opportunities for youth and are considered a source of attraction of important foreign investments for the economy. These international projects promote the state’s reputation as an important finance and business hub.
However, the question is how can the society benefit from these projects in providing job opportunities for youth and training and rehabilitating opportunities for young people so that they would become of social benefit?
Many of these giant projects have specific timetable during which their infrastructure and readiness for operation are completed. This means that time is gold and, therefore, many bodies and large companies bring about their labourers so that they would not waste time in training a local labour force. This means that making use of local workers is limited and there is no time for helping the region to develop.
The companies of these projects, whether international or local, undoubtedly make best use of these giant projects as being their launching pad. In addition to the large facilities offered by Egypt to these projects, the state has many benefits that make it an important centre for the launching of any project. However, as the owners of these projects gain numerous facilities and benefits offered by the state the youth should also benefit from them, not only in terms of eliminating joblessness, but also through gaining experience and training. These companies should work on local and human development and, therefore, realize balance in what is offered and what is gained in return.
This requires that each foreign expert hires a number of youth to gain experience to enable them to work in similar projects in the future.
Egypt is now proud of what it has realized at the domestic and international levels by the hands of its people and president and, in fact, these achievements would not have been reached if there was lack of confidence between the leadership and the people. The youth have proven their ability to adapt with all circumstances and to work under all kinds of pressure. Giant projects that are being carried out on the ground are a pride to Egypt and its people and will offer great economic and social benefits.
